I will start this review by saying I am newer to more epic fantasy. While reading this I found it difficult to keep straight all the different worlds, countries, and governments. But I do think that was because of me as a reader, and not a fault of the book. I would just recommend this to more advance fantasy readers.

Overall I liked the story, but it wasn’t a favorite for me personally. But I do think a lot of people will really enjoy this, I would have liked to see the relationship between Gracia and Ceirran develop, and the pacing felt off to me sometimes. But I did love the political aspect of this book.

I do recommend giving it a try!

Thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for an ebook in exchange for review.

The Stars Undying is everything that I have ever wanted in a SciFi book. Full of political scheming, war strategy, and powerful characters The Stars Undying is impossible to put down.

With a first line that is the longest sentence I have ever read, Emery Robin throws the reader into the deep end. The story begins in the middle of a revolution immersing the reader immediately. It is a bit of a daunting first few chapters, especially if you are not familiar with political SciFi or fantasy. (Orbit I am begging you to add a glossary to this book. There are too many C- names and different planets for there not to be one.) However, the characters are so fascinating that you will want to push through your confusion in order to uncover their secrets. Despite being a dense and complex book I could not stop reading. The story steadily expands from a battle between sisters to a conflict that shakes the empire.

Gracia is one of my new favorite characters. I love an unreliable narrator and her chapters were so engaging. She is badass and unapologetically clever and will stop at nothing to get what she wants. As much as I knew I shouldn't, I loved Ceirran. You know the author is talented when they make you care about a dictator based on Julius Caesar. I need the next book to have Ana's point of view. Though she takes more of a back seat in this book, she is such a raw and powerful character that she is destined to become another favorite.

The writing is beautiful. Emery Robin crafts such enchanting descriptions of the world and the characters. There are incredible conversations about power, religion, and justice that echo issues in the real world. Gracia and Ceirran have incredible dialogue. Their feelings for each other conflict with their personal ambitions and need to be the smartest person in the room. This creates conversations of sexual tension, double meaning, and heartbreak.

Emery Robin transforms actual historical events into a uniquely powerful story. I had only a vague memory of the historical events or the Shakespeare play going into this. It was nice to see the similarities but I didn't want to spend the entire time comparing the book to the inspiration. That being said, there was a moment that was such a beautiful parallel to a scene in Julius Caesar by Shakespeare that I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

As I was reading I thought I had critiques. There were a few choices with the writing that threw me off. Not enough to stop me from enjoying it, but they were definitely strange. And then I got to the final chapter and I realized that every single strange writing choice was intentional. I firmly believe that multi-POV books should not be written in first person POV. But even that choice contributes to the overall story. So consider The Stars Undying an exception to the rule. So many moments came full circle with repeated lines that had me gasping as I realized what was happening. I am a huge fan of books that have a unique narrative style. Harrow the Ninth and the Fifth Season are some of my favorite books because of the way that they are told. The subtle choices Emery Robin made had me racing through the pages to find the answers to the strange, unsettled feeling I had.

I would highly recommend this book to fans of A Memory Called Empire and She Who Became the Sun. As a space opera, this will appeal to people who are already well versed in the adult high fantasy genre who are looking to read more SciFi.

I cannot believe this is a debut novel. It is genuinely one of the best books I have ever read.

This review was so difficult to write because I don't know how to properly convey how much I loved this book. The Stars Undying blew me away. It is a new favorite and I cannot wait to read the next book!

The Stars Undying is a chunky SF about empires, bargains, and alliances. It's about the power which can save us, which elevate us, and which cause our downfall. Told in dual POV, The Stars Undying truly allows us to sink into both Ceirran and Altagracia. It's one of the strongest pieces of this book because while there's tons of action, adventure, and scheming, what kept me reading were the characters. I became entranced by Altagracia's quest for power and the interaction with the colonial powers. I definitely liked her better than Ceirran, but mostly because it was harder for me to truly see through his eyes.

To see the risks, dangers, and stakes. Not to mention, I always love an underdog and as she has to fight back for her power, Altagracia was an instant favorite. There are some parts of this epic SF that feel a bit slower than others, which can make reading a slower experience. So I had to adjust my expectations since this book seems to be like half characters half scheming. Another element I enjoyed was how Robin explores who has the right to rule.

The Stars Undying is a science-fiction retelling of the lives of Caesar and Cleopatra, translating events and figures of Roman, Egyptian, and Greek history into an interplanetary setting. The plot follows our main characters, Ceirran and Gracia, as they navigate a love affair while both struggling to regain control over their respective empires after a series of civil wars.

The book's version of the antiquity Mediterranean involves Gracia's home Szayet, a kingdom almost entirely submerged in the sea that worships the conqueror Alekso (Alexander the Great) as an immortal god. On Szayet, Gracia's lineage rules the planet with the aid of a supercomputer contained in a pearl that allows her to access an AI-replication of Alekso's consciousness. Ceirran's planet, Ceian, is a fervently anti-religious republic that acts as the cultural center of the near universe, with more and more planets being absorbed by Ceirran and his army as vassal states.

The prose and dialogue are largely written quite well, but I found much of the plot to be slow, uninteresting, and aimless. At times, the characters come off well-developed and interesting, but at others it feels as though they don't have much of a voice. The chapters go back and forth between Ceirran and Gracia and I often found it very difficult to remember who was narrating. As they spend much of the book together, their voices blend together and it becomes largely irrelevant who's perspective is being written. The best personalities come from the more unique side characters, particularly Ceirran's lieutenant Ana, based on Mark Antony.

I also found the setting to be a bit off-putting, but that may be because of personal preferences. Despite being set in a world with interstellar travel and supercomputers, the culture is still that of ancient Rome. I don't feel that I can suspend my disbelief that a culture could develop these technologies but otherwise bear no resemblance at all to a technologically advanced culture. Further, it's very confusing exactly how much technology these planets possess. At times it seems that other than space ships, computers and holograms, they have no technology at all. Gracia mentions processes involving advanced physics, but at the same time it's never made clear if they even have electricity. It's implied that their computers are based on the modification of pearls with pre-existing computing capabilities. All in all I found this very hard to wrap my head around.

The book is fine, and it's written with some skill, but it's not for me; and certainly could use some more purpose and direction.

The Stars Undying is a retelling of Cleopatra and Caesar, but it is so much more than that. The story takes place in space, where tech and religion war. Gracia (Cleopatra) is violently ousted from the throne by her twin sister and forced to ask Ceirran (Caesar) for help. Along with his intrepid captain Anita (Anthony), Gracia and Ceirran embark on an epic journey to reclaim the throne for Gracia. More than the throne, they must recover the Pearl of the Dead, a computer that holds the soul of Gracia’s god: Alekso. Loyalties will be tested and betrayal is inevitable as they seek to discover what it means to be a queen and a god.

This book has it all- romance, politics, action-packed battles, and reflections on what it means to be queen. Emery Robin writes such a creative and compelling take on Cleopatra in space. I couldn’t put it down! Gracia and Ceirran both prove to be slightly unreliable narrators and I was spellbound as the truth behind their story unravels. I loved Anita! Her scenes with Gracia were some of my favorites in the book. Emery Robin handles the dual narrator structure of the book so well and has excellent pacing. I would recommend this for fans of queer historical retellings who enjoy sci-fi/space operas. I hope that we get more books in this series! Thank you so much to Emery Robin, Orbit, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Altagracia and Matheus must navigate the politics of an interstellar empire and their budding romance, and every action causes ripples of unknown import. This retelling of Cleopatra and Caesar sets the ancient story against a space opera backdrop.

I’m not super familiar with Cleopatra’s life, so I can’t comment as to how accurately it’s been translated in The Stars Undying. Vague memories of having read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra in high school gave me a sense of where the story was going, but I think it might work better if you have an understanding of the actual history and can appreciate how various characters map to their counterparts (on the other hand, the unpredictably gained from having no knowledge might let you appreciate the book on its own terms). There’s a question for SF&F fans to discuss outside this book about whether medieval or older monarchies and empires are “realistic” in far-future sci-fi, but since the premise of Stars Undying is “Caesar and Cleopatra in space” I just sat back and enjoyed the odd juxtapositions this created rather than counting it as a mark against the book.

I loved the queer representation in this book – Caesar is bi/pan (no label is used, but he’s had relationship with/expresses interest in people of all genders), and prominent characters represent same-sex relationships, asexuality, and non-binary genders. None of it is presented as remarkable or needing explanation, which I appreciate.

One thing that didn’t work for me was an unreliable narrator that only came up a few times. It doesn’t seem to be that a character is consistently unreliable; rather, at three or four points the viewpoint character will say, “by the way, I lied about something earlier, here’s what really happened.” I’m not sure what’s gained by this… but it’s more of a “your mileage may vary” than “this is clearly good or bad” narrative choice.

Two other notes for potential readers. First, as this is the story of Cleopatra and Caesar’s romantic and sexual relationship, there are several sex scenes on the page. The description goes further than fade to black without becoming fully erotica; nothing wrong with that in my book but be aware if that bothers you. Second, there are many supporting characters with similar names – I’d recommend either reading this as an ebook to take advantage of the search function or taking notes as you go.

If you’re a fan of retellings of historical events and/or Shakespeare (again, I’m not sure which this hews more closely to), this is a fun read and worth checking out.

The Stars Undying is available for purchase and might be held by your local library. You can find it in print and support a local bookstore via IndieBound, or as an ebook at Kobo (or presumably most other ebook distributors).

Thank you (a BIG thank you) to NetGalley, to Orbit, and to Emery Robin, for the opportunity to read an ARC of this title. An honest review was requested but not required.

I, unlike Altagracia, will not lie to you: this book HAD me, I mean, I was hooked completely, when I read "for fans of Leckie's Ancillary Justice." Oh really? I thought to myself, and hovered my mouse over "REQUEST." Then I read the blurb. Surely, I thought, surely this isn't a CLEOPATRA retelling? In SPACE? I clicked REQUEST so fast my left pointer finger practically got a cramp. I was a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge (read: nerdiest nerd Queen of all the nerds) Ancient Egypt nerd, and I must have read every. single. book. my little library had about Ancient Egypt, and once I read all those, I read all the Cleopatra books too. I mean. Was Princess Arsinoe an evil brat? Or was Berenice the autocratic, harsh older sister? Or were they all just schemers and Cleopatra whether through merit or luck happened to win out? I always felt, I guess, that Cleopatra was probably just a really really REALLY good planner (how about this: despite all the unrest in the area, she ruled for two decades) who got a super bad rep from some sour-grapes Romans. Winners tell history, and Cleopatra - though she dodged Octavian's plans for her, in the end - didn't exactly win. Winners tell history, and winners are almost always... men. So. I guess it's unsurprising that an "enemy" woman doesn't get a warm fuzzy story told about her, right?

WELLLLLLLLLLLLLL. Pull up a chair. Altagracia is here to tell you some things. She'll tell you herself that many of them are lies, and you'll read this and nod your head and STILL be surprised. Ceirran remarks that what drew him to her was the magnetism of her gaze; the fact that you can't bear to be anything less than the entire subject of Gracia's regard. As a reader, her magnetism is just as strong. You can't help but be pulled into her orbit like yet another pearl, captive to whatever she wants you to hear, to think, to feel. Ceirran has his own sharp, honest magnetism, as does Ana/Anita (/Antony) but, as in real live history, it's Gracia (Cleopatra) I was irresistibly drawn back to, every time.

I was completely astonished that this is a debut. Completely. The subtlety of the writing, and intensity of the characters, just: wow. This is a stunning book. Many other reviewers have mentioned the last line and I will say this in agreement: nothing will keep me from book 2. Nothing, perhaps, save the horde of other hopeful readers who will likely fight me for the privilege of getting their hands on it first. Kudos to Robin; this is probably the best debut I have ever read, and one of the best books I have read this year.

I’ve never read a book quite like The Stars Undying, an epic space opera based off Cleopatra and Julius Caesar (swipe for synopsis), admittedly, my first of this genre.

Points of view switched between Gracia (Cleopatra) and Ceirran (Caesar) and focused on their progressing relationship coming secondary to the complexities, politics, and responsibilities of running and maintaining an empire. I sometimes wished the plot focused more on their relationship as these parts of the story were some of the most interesting.

It definitely took me a while to fall in step with Robin’s writing style and feel committed to the world built. It took me time to familiarize myself with the different factions, alliances, and planets. While some of the writing was quite spectacular, I’d frequently find myself jarred out of the story attempting to figure out who someone was or what they were referring to.

We all know what happened in history (if you paid attention in school… I apparently did not retain much of my 7th grade history class and went down the Google hole to fill my lacking knowledge 🤣), and there is definitely tragic Shakespearean vibes. Low key kinda loved it.

I also loved all the casually represented full rainbow spectrum of Lgbtq characters — of those characters, Anita was my favorite… think a swag cross between Michelle Rodriguez in The Fast and the Furious and Han Solo. 😆

What didn’t work for me? Pacing was too slow, I wanted more consistent character tension. I may be in the minority but I didn’t love the unreliable narrator asides on top of the authors complex writing style, it pulled me out of the story each time. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Regardless of my gripes, I think some will fully enjoy the complexities of this book and the history it’s based on. Read this book if you would like an ambitious epic science fiction reimagining of Cleopatra/Caesar.

Thank you to @netgalley and @orbitbooks_us for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit books for an advanced copy of this book. Here is my review.

This book is the first space opera that I have read in a long time. This book reminded me why I love the genre.

It is an interesting retelling of the story of Cleopatra and Julius Caeser set in a futuristic world. You do not need to know their stories though to enjoy this book. I loved the world building and the characters. It was fascinating to see how cultural views shape the interactions of the various characters.

I can't wait to read the next book in this series.

I was taken in by the cover of this book the first time I saw it and how could I resist a space opera reimagining of the story of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. I was also very excited because this is the first physical arc I got from Orbit US and that makes it very special. And turns out it was unlike anything I’ve read in a while.

Seeing that it’s a space opera featuring a queen in (almost) exile wanting to get it back, and trying to get help from the commander of a huge empire for that purpose, I definitely expected this to be an action packed novel about war. Turns out it’s not. It took me only a few chapters to realize that I might have to recalibrate my expectations and then it was an unusual but fun read. The writing was beautiful and poetic, with lots of lingering conversations which were worded in one way but totally meant something else. This layered writing style is not something I’m used to and it took a while for me to get comfortable with it, and I still don’t know if I understood all the underlying meanings. The world building is also just too vast with so many planets as part of the empire - so many names, their languages and cultures - I don’t think I remember most of them even now after finishing the book, I just went along with it. The story was also very slow paced, with some exciting moments at the beginning and the end, but it was very slice of life for a lot of it in the middle where it felt like nothing was happening - except lots of discussions and musings on philosophy, empire, immortality, religion, god and more which I kinda enjoyed thinking about myself.

Even after reading this almost 500 page book I don’t know what I can tell you about our main characters Gracia and Ceirran. They are unreliable narrators for sure, particularly Gracia who keeps telling us that. The story is told in first person POV but as if the protagonists are narrating their story to someone (and us), and the lying was not visible at first, until the book proceeded a bit. But come what may, I still can’t deign what their motivations were and what they actually wanted. Just having an empire and ruling over it seemed like small things which they would never aspire it, but I still didn’t understand what it is they wanted, both from the world and each other. I don’t know much about Roman history and definitely very little about Caesar, but this book felt like I was getting a close look at the kind of relationship he shared with Cleopatra and Mark Anthony. Mark’s analogous here is Anita whose presence is limited but very vivid and she turned out to be another enigma I wished to know more about.

It might feel like I’m rambling but I’m truly at a loss how to review this book. If you like Roman history as well as space operas, you’ll probably enjoy this book, and maybe even understand it to the fullest extent. If you like your sci-fi books to be a slow burn thesis about the philosophy of empire and religion, then this will be right up your alley. But if you are looking for lots of fast paced action and war, you’ll end up disappointed. I still can’t say if I love it completely but I was definitely impressed, and though this almost works as a standalone, I will surely read the sequel and would love to reread this book before that.

It always pains me when I have to DNF a review book, particularly because I tend to pick and choose them according to my tastes, which should enable me to target only novels I can be sure to enjoy, but sometimes this method fails and I’m faced with a story that does not work for me.

The Stars Undying had all the potential the be the kind of narrative I enjoy, enhanced by the fact that it’s inspired by the events surrounding the fateful meeting between the Egyptian ruler Cleopatra and roman conquerors Caesar and Mark Anthony, translated into a space opera background. Princess Altagracia, the heir to the Szayet empire, has been overthrown by her own sister, who also claimed the Pearl, the computerized device that imparts to Szayet rulers the wisdom of their god. When the commander of the fleet from the empire of Ceiao, Matheus Ceirran, lands on Szayet, Gracia sees in him the opportunity to regain power by using her feminine wiles, but she soon understands that the game might be more complex and dangerous than that…

I have to admit that my troubles with this novel started from the very beginning: the author throws her readers into the thick of things with little or no background to sustain them, and if that usually does not worry me - since I do indeed enjoy a good challenge - the way in which the story flows felt both confused and confusing and I struggled to understand how that veritable avalanche of names and places and background details could form an organic picture. More than once I backtracked through the chapters, driven by the definite sensation that I might have missed some pages or sections and that some vital information had eluded me, but I failed to find any helpful clue.

The story is told in alternating chapters equally shared by Gracia and Ceirran, and here is where I encountered more problems because their “voices” lack the kind of distinctiveness that would make their individual personalities stand out: if I was distracted and failed to take notice of the character name at the top of the chapter, I had a few moments of uncertainty about whose thread I was following because I could not readily distinguish between the two identities. The fact that it took me close to ten days to reach the 40% mark before admitting defeat, is a signal that my progress through the book was an uphill, losing battle.

When all is said and done, I firmly believe that it’s more a kind of “it’s not you, it’s me” issue with this book than anything else: from what I’ve read online, the consensus is that The Stars Undying is a brilliant debut, and I don’t doubt it - it’s just not the kind of book, or narrative style, that I find suits my tastes and I truly look forward to the comments of my fellow bloggers to learn what I might have missed or misunderstood in this failed reading journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for this eARC.

A sci-fi reimagining of Caesar and Cleopatra had all the makings of an epic saga, and I was immediately intrigued by the premise of this book. The concept of detailing classic history over an intergalactic backdrop was fascinating, and it certainly is an epic.

That being said, I did not love this book. I went into it with high hopes, but I was left wanting more. The world building was incredibly confusing and after reading the whole book, I still feel as if I’ve read only every other chapter and that there is something missing. I didn’t feel fully interested in the story until about the 20% mark, and then my interest continued to waver as I just couldn’t make sense of it. It was beautifully written, but lacking in true explanation of the world.

What really made this confusing for me was the continual shifting in the narrative. The story is told from Gracia and Ceirran’s perspectives, which I liked, but within each chapter there were flashbacks and long thought processes that made it difficult to follow the overall arc of the story. The best parts were when Gracia and Ceirran were directly interacting, but there was a long stretch around the middle of them touring Gracia’s lands that just dragged on for so long and didn’t feel like it really advanced the story. I loved seeing the two of them banter and verbally spar with one another, but the story got bogged down by a lot of the politics, which felt unexplained.

The thing that I really enjoyed the most was the representation of queer characters! All of the main characters fell somewhere in the LGBTQ+ community and I loved seeing these reimagined versions of historical figures this way. It was very cool and incredibly well done in that aspect.

Like I said, it was written beautifully and has a really interesting premise, but ultimately I found it lacking in emotional depth and that the world building was messy. For me, this is a 3⭐️ read.

This was a bit of a slow burn for me. I found it a difficult book to get started with due to the changing perspectives and the world building. However, once this got going it was hard to put down.

This is a beautifully written psychological and political piece that faithfully captures so much of the spirit of the Cleopatra of history. This first book features the time up to Ceasar's death and I imagine the second will continue with Marc Anthony. Although the names are different, this is a seamless transition from ancient history to speculative science fiction future. Although this is presented as a space opera, there really are no battles or action scenes. Instead, this is a slow and meditative story about the relationships between the main characters and the political machinations which they must perform to survive.

Story: Princess Altagracia has grown up in a country with little money but a long legacy. The country's one treasure is the Quicksilver Pearl - a supercomputer that houses the 'soul' of the great general Alecto who had conquered her country so many generations past. The rulers commune with this general as a god and act as his prophet. In the middle of a civil war, Gracia has found herself pitted against her sister after the death of their father - with the pearl and rulership of the country at stake. Enter the Ceieo - a people of immense power and wealth. With the help of its greatest general, Gracia will take control of the Pearl and the country - forging a personal and professional alliance with the enigmatic Ceirran.

This is a very slow moving but fascinating read, with so much written between the lines and giving much to thought. The POV is from both Altagracia and Ceirran (Cleopatra and Caesar), and other than the sci fi setting and Quicksilver Pearl, reads so much as if they were in their ancient historical worlds. There are tablets, litters, and even traveling by boat to see more of Altagracia's world. At the same time, Ceirran will have to travel to other worlds to quell uprisings while Gracia keeps updated through interstellar communications. It is very difficult to articulate here in a short paragraph how well this works in the book, but it truly does.

This is not a book that panders to the reader - so much is said and then left unsaid that it is very rewarding to pay attention. It reads a lot like Altagracia is writing her biography and there are many instances where she breaks the fourth wall. This is because she is a somewhat unreliable narrator. That conceit can be extremely frustrating and jarring if done wrong - but somehow here works extremely well to add more interest to the story.

In all, I greatly enjoyed this book (despite being one of those people who love the pew pew type of space opera novels). It is both an easy and a challenging read but one where the characters breathe their historical counterparts. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

The Stars Undying was a intriguing concept that didn’t quite hit the mark in execution. The concept of a space opera inspired by the lives of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar grabbed me right away. The world Robin created in this book was a fantastic setting, the drowned world of Szayet and the sprawling empire of Ceiao. Unfortunately, the characters did not grab me as the world did. First person narration is not my preference, doubly when there is more than one narrator. The voices of the two POV characters were not distinguished enough from each other to tell who was speaking if not for the names at the beginning of each chapter.;

The prose was enjoyable to read, well written but not flowery. Part four and the ending did intrigue me enough that I will likely pick up the second book in the series. Overall a decent debut and I will see what else Robin puts out in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Stars Undying is a queer sci-fi reimagining of Cleopatra's life. Full of drama and betrayal, both romantic and political. A very fun read regardless of how familiar you are with the actual or other fictional versions of Cleopatra.

Emery Robin is clearly a talented writer and has put a ton into the world building. That said, I did find it confusing. All the names of people, planets, languages were too much to sort through, especially in the beginning. I loved the idea of a Cleopatra retelling but I'm not very familiar with the story, which probably didn't help my confusion. I was intrigued enough with the story and the author's writing is good enough I will would read something by Emery again.

DNF’d at 50%.

I feel like this book started really strong, but it just couldn’t keep my attention. Every part of the story - writing style, world building, characters - was fascinating at first, but didn’t last beyond the first third, when it felt like the entire plot of the book had already happened.

-The characters were intriguing, but none of them but Ana made me care enough about them to keep following their story (and Ana was yeeted off-planet so I couldn’t even look forward to hearing about her). Alecto seemed pretty cool, and I suspected there was going to be at least one story twist concerning him, but I didn’t care enough to read another 200+ pages of Gracia and Ceirran being boring and horny together.
-The world building was really rich, but quickly became overwhelming and a little confusing when several planets/civilizations/languages were not really put into context.
-I really liked the writing style for the most part, though there were moments during Gracia’s narration when she would break the fourth wall in a very informal voice that was very jarring.

I didn’t realize when I first started the book that it was a reimagining of the history of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, but when I started having issues with the book and looked into other reviews, I quickly realized where my problems stemmed from. The character’s actions did not seem to belong to them. They were just playing parts in a story that had already happened. Gracia and Ceirran’s affair happened waaaaaaaaayyyyy too suddenly and didn’t seem to fit either of their personalities. It was really jarring and honestly made me less interested in both of them. Their tour of the planet absolutely killed what little forward movement was left in the plot, but they had to do a tour together because Cleo and Caesar maybe went on a tour together. The political details were too dependent on my knowing the detailed history of Caesar’s Rome and Cleopatra’s Egypt. Without that historical context, the book’s political landscape didn’t make as much sense. Ceirran’s politics were just Caesar’s politics, and weren’t pieced together to form a character outside of ‘Caesar in space’. Ceirran and Gracia’s philosophical debates felt like they were just popular philosophical debates of the time, and there’s very little that is more boring in a book than philosophical debates between two characters that aren’t even interesting to me.

I imagine the rest of the story would have followed along with history, but at this point, I’d rather just read the real history of Rome and Egypt and not get a reskinned sci-fi version that lacks context and presents me with characters that are less interesting than their real world counterparts.

In the end, this book wasn’t for me. It started off strong, and maybe it ended strong as well, but unless I skim through the molasses slow middle and the uninspired characters, I’m never making it there.

HIGHLIGHTS
~be careful of pearls and wine
~unreliable narrators ftw
~gods vs AIs
~a rather important carpet delivery

When I opened The Stars Undying and read the first page, my heart leapt: it instantly gave me the same vibes as the Teixcalaan books. Now that I’ve finished it, I would say that The Stars Undying is in some ways a more approachable Teixcalaan – much less baroque and byzantine, but still possessing a proud and regal grace all its own.

<she taught me to navigate like star charts those who made up what she called the quality of our city: how to distinguish between money and power, how to foment a grudge or end one, how to appease or to leave hungry.>

The Stars Undying is inspired by – or is maybe a retelling of – the story of Cleopatra, Julius Caesar, and Mark Anthony, and there is plenty here to delight anyone who went through a Cleopatra phase (don’t try saying it was just me, I know full well it wasn’t!) Altagracia – Gracia – is a character very worthy of Cleopatra’s legacy; powerfully intelligent, intoxicatingly magnetic, dedicated to her people, and made up of equal parts cool ruthlessness and inexhaustible passion. Ceirran makes a very convincing Julius Caesar. I know a lot less about Mark Anthony, but his reincarnation Anita is a fierce, fiery, feral creature that might have been my favourite character in the entire book.

There are plenty of Easter eggs for the Cleopatra enthusiasts – none of which can’t be appreciated by someone not familiar with Cleopatra’s story/history, so no worries there. But my favourite definitely has to be the pearl – there’s a(n almost certainly fictional) tale of how Cleopatra once dissolved a pearl in wine and drank it, and here in Robin’s debut, the substance called quicksilver pearl (which is utterly destroyed if it comes into contact with alcohol) is a massive part of the plot and worldbuilding. I was (and remain) completely delighted with it, with the way that Robin drew from the lore around Cleopatra for The Stars Undying and spun it into something wildly new!

Other parts of the worldbuilding didn’t quite work for me – if I sit and think about it, I’m very confused about the level of technology; it feels more like Robin was building an aesthetic rather than multiple planets and their cultures. But crucially, that didn’t actually bother me while I was reading. Stars Undying is the kind of book that drags you under like a riptide; you simply can’t look away from the glorious, blazing cast for long enough to nitpick literally anything. Their charisma doesn’t just mesmerise the characters sharing the pages with them; it’s more than strong enough to hypnotise the reader too, and Robin makes it look effortless.

Which. I mean. Kudos!

<Inside my chest, my heart turned and caught the light.>

Because this book is all about the characters. Gracia and Ceirran are a binary star system, each a radiant, glorious celestial body in their own right, now locked together in an orbit almost too bright to look at. In fact, if I can get very nerdy for a second: the two of them are a cataclysmic variable, a sun and white dwarf bound together, the latter feeding off the former. Specifically, they remind me of ZTF J1813+4251, whipping around each other dizzyingly fast, distorting the galaxy around them with their gravitational waves.

But the thing about cataclysmic variables is that they’re not sustainable; one body is feeding off the other. One will eventually come apart. The title of this book may be The Stars Undying, but one of these incandescent stars is going to die – literally or metaphorically – so the other can blaze all the brighter.

Robin’s skill is in keeping you from being able to tell which is which; is in depicting the passionate struggle of Gracia and Ceirran as they trade roles back and forth. They can’t escape each other; I don’t think they even want to. But they are both simply too much more than the rest of us mere mortals to be able to coexist forever.

(As a side-note? Robin mentioned on Twitter that The Stars Undying was very much written as a Jewish book. I’m not the person to go into that – I don’t know nearly enough about Judaism – but in retrospect? Oh, yes, and oh, wow!)

When I picked up The Stars Undying, I didn’t know if it was meant to be a series opener or a standalone, and the ending felt, to me, like a standalone ending. Which left me unhappy, because as a standalone, Stars Undying just didn’t satisfy. However, I’ve since learned that it will, indeed, have a sequel, which changes things – negates just about everything I didn’t love about it, for one! So I’m not going to talk about those ‘flaws’, because they’re not flaws at all given that this story is not over.

Gods. It’s not over. I have chills. And am looking forward to the sequel with equal parts dread and anticipation and freaking yearning.

You can read the first two chapters for free on io9, and preorder it in all the usual places – which you very much should!

4.5 - thank you SO much to Orbit for sending me this ARC!!

I really struggled for the first 50-100 pages of this book, which is more of a me problem than the book - I don't read a ton of space operas and often find them hard to get into. This one, however, really wasn't very 'space-y' - the vibe is much more ancient empire.

Once I was in, I was IN. The writing is gorgeous and the narrative style so unique. The romance?? Incredible.

I know basically zero about Cleopatra and Caesar aside from the very basics, so I have no idea if that enhanced my reading experience or if I would have enjoyed it even more knowing the story. After a brief google, I see excellent potential for a sequel.

Just a very unique read that really sucked me in, and so fun to read something so different!